Vatican confirms papal approval of new Chinese bishop
October 15, 2025
» Continue to this story on Vatican Press Office
CWN Editor's Note: The Vatican has acknowledged the ordination of Bishop Ignatius Wu Jianlin as an auxiliary for the Shanghai diocese, announcing that Pope Leo approved the ordination on August 11.
The announcement from the Vatican rebuts earlier reports that the October 15 ordination of Bishop Jianlin was scheduled without papal approval. The Chinese government had unilaterally announced the selection of the new auxiliary bishop on April 29, shortly after the death of Pope Francis, in what appeared to be a violation of the secret Beijing-Vatican agreement on the naming of bishops.
The Shanghai diocese already had an auxiliary, Bishop Thadeus Ma Daqin, who was ordained in 2012, but immediately suspended from ministry when he announced he was dropping his membership in the government-backed Catholic Patriotic Association. Since that time he has been living under house arrest in the diocesan seminary.
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